This is an indicative sample of the reactions of the music press to Dani Joss’ work. Texts originally in Greek appear translated.

Performances:

Kostas Papaspyropoulos, atraktos.net

(@synch 2007) “Dani Joss is the musician with the highest aesthetic. His music, the imagery with which he supplements it, the theatrical moments of the performance, are at least a sensory masterpiece. Dani Joss is way ahead, not only by Greek standards. I think that, from now on, Poeta Negra should be considered the company that signed Dani Joss, and then everybody else. Certainly, that was the most touching thing I have ever seen in the last few years”.

Angelos Grontas, Black:White fanzine

(@hydrogeios 2004, w/ Biosphere) “The projector fills with images full of flow and emotion. Sometimes abstract, at times lost in their pluralism, but always full of pulse and energy. Dani’s music flows out in the venue. It plays with the audience. It plays with our souls. It creates images beyond imagery. It takes off with violent crescenti and settles down in plastic toy pianos, full of lyricism. We forget that we are in an indoor venue and travel with Dani to places forgotten, buried somewhere deep in the unconscious. The sensation is dreamlike, the body cannot tell whether it is awake or asleep. Forms and shapes flow continuously on the canvas. Plastic, iron, alive, dead. [...] ‘Your path is my path’. The canvas transforms in a giant pulsating, vibrating heart. [...] The climax is approaching, I can feel it. I couldn’t have imagined, though, that it would be so thrilling”.

Installations:

Tony Gibbs, The Fundamentals of Sonic Art and Sound Design (AVA - Thames & Hudson, 2007)

“Stasis/Kinesis” cited as an example of interactive installation (incl pictures).

Parallaxi Mag (for the Odyssey theme park)

“The greatest experience we have lived in Thessaloniki“.

Films:

TMFF, Dec 2016 (Best Experimental for Imago Ep.II: Symmetry)

The film is one of the most interesting cinematic philosophical visions we’ve encountered so far in our festival. […] ‘Imago Ep.II: Symmetry’ is a mind maze but nevertheless a fascinating one. The director’s power to fantasise, abstractise and reconstruct (deconstruct) the world ideologically is outstanding. This is one film that certainly has the power to take one on a far-away journey among ideas and reasons.

Die Wolke:

Parallaxi Mag, "Die Wolke, a group “on fire“ in the city"

“One of the most important outlet of contemporary artistry in [Thessaloniki], as well as on both sides of the border.“

Pantelis Kaniouras, Beater. Interview.

“A restless group on the city“

Lemonia Vasvani, Typos Thessalonikis, Trajectory of an Idea.

“The dance extravaganza in Thessaloniki“

Shaper of Form:

Argiris Zilos, Athinorama (record of the week)

“The symphony by cancellation: Transcending even the otherwise schematic torsion of the inherently romantic Liquid Photography, the electro-thinker from Thessaloniki proceeds with a total breakdown of form, so that the environment no longer echoes like a superposition of cancelled lyrical expectations or post-industrialist noise residues but as a distorting mirror which, wherever you go, it observes you”.

Makis Milatos, Athens Voice

“Dreamlike landscapes, shards of sounds that assemble and disintegrate, environmental sounds, an atmosphere of devoutness, mathematics, influences from Eno, the sound of the piano that dominates. As it seems, we have a lot to look forward to”.

Giorgos Galanis, atraktos.net

“Dani Joss might be experimenting with form, but primarily he challenges/invites the listener to experiment with different levels of listening”.

Cracked

“At times I think that ‘shaper of form’ is actually a riddle, one that is to be solved by figuring out various solutions on a meta-level and then combining and boiling them down to another level. Or maybe the allusion of a riddle is enough to open the mind and give it free space to think. Lots of free space. Nightly, dark space, because the non-interruption of daylight helps the mind to think even better. Falling asleep to ‘shaper of form’ will either give you enlightening visions or nightmares (or both at the same time)”.

Paul Lloyd, Sideline

“His music is unrushed and uncluttered, telling its own story at its own pace but never quite explaining what the story is, almost as though it is left for you to fill in the blanks. ‘Shaper of Form’ could quite easily be the depiction of a day in the life of a person in the city, from travelling around to experiencing the various highs and lows of the day. This feeling is enhanced by a unique soundtrack style that has a narrative quality as if it is communicating a vision or message in its very composition. Generally keeping the tone very gentle and utilising plenty of space, there are occasional impassioned outbursts of aggression and alternately haunting moments”.

Liquid Photoraphy:

Chris Sharp, The Wire

“As a solo artist, Joss focuses more on the possibilities of digital synthesis, crafting slow building, stately swatches of sound which have enough narrative impetus to sustain the listener’s interest. In fact, Liquid photography occasionally verges on the theatrical”.

Takis Thanopoulos, avopolis.gr

“Eno’s ambient music meets the noisy interferences of Faust and the travelling mood of Tangerine Dream. Despite its short duration, [...] Liquid Potography indicates the musical mark of its creator, who combines melodic motifs with dull sounds, the occasional theme with the guitar, piano passages, noisy crescenti, and absolute silence”.

Argiris Zilos, Athinorama (record of the week)

“This half-hour journey by the Thessaloniki-based composer goes deeper than the mixed electronic attitude, touching an aspect of introspective romanticism, not easily approachable to technocrats, as well as to the hyperactive”.

Antonis N. Fragos, Difono

“This half-hour work by Dani Joss encompasses some of the most interesting sonority we have heard in the last few years. In five musical chapters, [...] the grey dominates, however without condemning the listener to severe melancholy. In contrast, Dani Joss guides him through terse sounds in atmospheres of floating and waiting, and from there to lyrical outbreaks”.